{"id":20873,"date":"2012-08-17T08:15:04","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T15:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=20873"},"modified":"2020-04-22T12:46:02","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T09:46:02","slug":"jest-jerusalems-oldest-english-speaking-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=20873","title":{"rendered":"JEST: Jerusalem’s English Speaking Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1985, a couple from Detroit embarked on an Israeli venture to bring English speaking theater to Jerusalem.\u00a0 At the time, there were many American and British Olim Hadashim (new immigrants to Israel), among other English speaking communities in Israel, whose Hebrew just wasn\u2019t good enough to enjoy a theater production in Hebrew.\u00a0 Thus, the Jerusalem English Speaking Theater (JEST) was founded, now about to commence its 27th year.<\/p>\n

\"JEST<\/a><\/p>\n

JEST produces all genres of quality American and British theater – from musicals to dramas, they\u2019ve done it all, encompassing a wide range of content and subject matter, and not exclusively Jewish-themed productions.\u00a0 Leah Stoller, who has been the in-house director at JEST for 27 years, says that some of her favorite past productions at JEST are: the 1946 English play \u201cThe Winslow Boy\u201d by Terence Rattigan, \u201cKorczak\u2019s Children\u201d by Jeffrey Hatcher,\u00a0 Arthur Miller\u2019s 1968 \u201cThe Price,\u201d\u00a0 and the murder mystery by Agatha Christie, \u201cThe Mousetrap,\u201d just to name a few.<\/p>\n

Stoller is proud that \u201cwe were the ones who started youth productions in Jerusalem. We do quite a lot of shows that need children actors,\u201d commented Stoller, who added that a lot of the Israeli children acting in JEST\u2019s shows speak perfect English, due to their American and English parents, even though they are true Sabras.\u00a0 Stoller also pointed out that \u201ca lot of children work backstage during the shows, in lighting, sound, set-design, etc,\u201d demonstrating the company\u2019s commitment to youth involvement whenever possible.<\/p>\n

Stoller is the only in-house director at JEST, and the only one who has stayed since its founding, but the company also brings in directors from the outside to join the JEST team for a few years.\u00a0 JEST has a 14 person Board of Directors who, before the beginning of every year, discuss what plays will be produced in the coming season.\u00a0 The plays generally emanate from the directors, and then Stoller appoints a play reading committee to read the scripts and decide what will be appropriate for JEST in the coming year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
JEST – Collected Stories<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JEST is a non-profit theater.\u00a0 Because no one is paid and they are all volunteers, \u201cno one involved with JEST is in it to make money,\u201d commented Stoller.\u00a0 She continued, \u201cYou know where the word amateur comes from?\u00a0 It comes from the word \u2018love.\u2019\u00a0 Someone who loves what he or she is doing.\u00a0 Amateur doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re unprofessional, I tell my team. It means just the opposite – it means that you love what you\u2019re doing with all your being.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without an official theater, JEST performs at various theaters around Jerusalem.\u00a0 Currently, they are at the theater at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel, which has roughly 200 seats.\u00a0 Looking to see JEST in action?\u00a0 Then you must not miss their upcoming production titled \u201cFace to Face and Back to Back,\u201d which consists of two plays: \u201cEducating Rita\u201d by Willy Russell and \u201cCollected Stories\u201d by Donald Margulies.<\/p>\n

Performance dates for \u201cEducating Rita\u201d – Aug 28 at 6 pm, Aug 29 at 8 pm, Sept 6 at 8 pm (at AACI Netanya), Oct 24 at 6 pm, Oct 25 at 8 pm<\/p>\n

*UPDATE* Originally published as “JEST: Jerusalem’s Oldest English Speaking Theatre” the article has been edited for accuracy. The first theatre group to perform theatre productions in English in Jerusalem was Ha Maagal – The Circle Theatre, directed by Philip Diskin. The Circle Theatre produced Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi in 1965.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1985, a couple from Detroit embarked on an Israeli venture to bring English speaking theater to Jerusalem.\u00a0 At the time, there were many American and British Olim Hadashim (new immigrants to Israel), among other English speaking communities in Israel, whose Hebrew just wasn\u2019t good enough to enjoy a theater production in Hebrew.\u00a0 Thus, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}